New River Watershed Roundtable, Inc.

P.O. Box 1506 • Dublin, VA • 24084 • phone 540-643-2590

shared calendar at <http://calendar.yahoo.com/newriverwatershedroundtable>

email <newriverwatershedroundtable@yahoo.com>

website at <www.vawatersheds.org/newriver>

Friday, February 10, 2006

Blue Ridge Plateau Visitor Center, Hillsville

Clean Up Focus Group Minutes

 

Attendees:

Mike Smith – NRWR Clean Up Chair

Donnie Turner – Director of Tourism (Floyd, Patrick, Grayson, Carroll Co.’s, city of

   Galax)

George Santucci – NCNR Executive Director

Jim Elliot – NRTSP

Llyn Sharp – NRWR
Kelly Miller – DCR – SWCD Coordinator

Benny Quesenberry—NRWR Board

Tim Ott—DCR Regional Watershed Manager

 

Decisions Made for Clean Up Event

 

Date:  Saturday, Sept. 23, 2006

 

Focus on reach of New River downstream of Foster Falls along New River Trail State Park, ending at Allisonia.  (13 miles; Wythe and Pulaski Co.; we will also have a stop point at Rt. 100, 6.5 miles)

Include other reaches and tributaries by participation from local groups

 

It was decide that New River Watershed Roundtable will enroll in the Adopt-A-Stream Program through the VA Dept. Conservation and Recreation.

Mike Smith will be the primary contact

Kelly Miller will be the secondary contact

 

NCNR New River Big Sweep

Date we chose Sept. 23rd 2006 – ties in with NCNR Big Sweep; is the week after the NRT Challenge race.

George Santucci is willing to include us in this effort, will help direct his VA volunteers toward our reach of the river.

Big Sweep – NC statewide event; provides liability coverage for their event

500+ volunteers – includes schools, Appl. State U.

They do tributaries as well – Ashe, Watauga, Allegheny, etc.

 

Adopt - A- Stream (AAS) DCR statewide program

Has advantage of getting nice signs in high-visibility areas (Foster Falls and Allisonia access points on New River Trail State Park; Jim says that will be OK with the Park)

Offers advantage of liability coverage by state of VA (is this true?); at least state provides liability waivers for participants.

Kelly – New River SWCD-Coordinator is AAS liaison for our area, Lane Guilliams is the statewide contact in Richmond

Sites already established:

-         Elk Creek

-         Little River

-         Eggleston

-         Radford Loop

 

Ideas for the Event

 

George suggests a big day and celebration at the end

Mike – corporate sponsor to provide food

George – will get NCNR to look into it

Tim – AEP might donate

 

Dave – if in Wythe Co. work with their collection systems to dispose of trash and junk

 

Kelly – setup as a “White Goods” day like on Guest River

-         WQIF helped fund

-         People got $5 for drop-off

-         Roundtable could maybe do this with New River Counties

-         Recycling company picked up appliances

Kelly will check on funding used by Guest River event

 

Donnie – be great if we had one day that got recognized as New River Cleanup day in VA.

Jim Elliot – first years are the heavy ones

Mike – we need support from the NRTSP

Land along river is private between NRTSP trail and river, so we will have to arrange for specific drop points.

Dave – if we are relying on collection points at Austinville, why not clean upstream to Austinville ?   Response: water more dangerous and deep in that reach.

 

Resources we might use

 

Bennie Q – has a small dump truck

Landfill – Carroll Co. is closest, though cleanup is in Wythe and Pulaski

Jim – Collection centers may donate a construction dumpster, park can truck stuff to the dumpsters

Donnie – County admin. for Wythe Co. can put it on the BOS agenda and get them to approve it. 

Jim – Waste Industries is the commercial link

Donnie – maybe Waste Industries are easier to work with.

Jim – another way to get construction dumpsters is for people to donate money that can be used to pay for the dumpster

Jim – park has 10 canoes they can commit, may also do a watershed program

Mike – outfitters will donate canoes and rafts

 

 

Safety Issues

 

Lead Mines Rescue/State Parks has Swift Water Rescue Team

AAS – has liability waiver, check on coverage, if not covered by DCR, check with RC&D.

George – says Big Sweep provides that for them

Rebar on Austinville section sticking up from riverbed all the way across – how to get that out of the river?  Not part of this cleanup but another cleanup issue to pursue.  Hazard for boaters.

 

Next Meeting

P.R.

Safety Issues (Mike, Donnie)

Canoe availability and maps (DCR)

ID sites (Mike, Donnie)

-         for cleanup, for trail access, hazards, landowner contacts

AEP – contact for food (Darla, Ron)

AAS – paperwork confirmed

Kelly will check on coke and pepsi for water or drinks

 

Action Items

Jim will talk to park for collection from trail OK

Donnie will check with Wythe county admin

-         Eddy Hagy is the district rep., Jim also knows him

Donnie will check on R. U. ACA Swift Water Rescue team

Mike will check with private landowners for access along the route

-         Bill Gardner New River Retreat

Mike – P.R. needs

Kelly--DCR can contact current AAS to notify about date,

Kelly will also file AAS paperwork for us

Tim – bring up with ExComm for advertising and support

 

Side Note

George – Boone/Blowing Rock and Watauga all need more water; we should pay attention not only to water quality but to water quantity.

-         Boone (4MGD)

-         Ashe (20 MGD) – collaboration with Watauga

-         Wythe (6-10 MGD)

For New River at Galax (USGS 03164000) lowest daily flow Llyn can find was 303 cfs or 195.8 MGD on Sept. 14, 1954.  Peak flow in the flood of 1940 was 141,000 cfs or 91,131 MGD.  Wowee.  So we might be looking at a possible 17.3% drawdown from lowest flow.  The water utilities may have better data.